"In the beginning we are numb to the acid that slowly eats away at our heart; the acid's name is 'Sorrow'."
It always rained when Azusa was down. Or perhaps it rained because she was down. She gazed out the window at and to the street still under the tireless assault of the early Summer rains that plagued Japan. It was only a light drizzle so far but the forecaster on TV had announced heavy storms. She sighed; though she reluctantly admitted it was perfect weather to get lost in thought... the rain never was to her liking. Her pencil tapped on the desk in a familiar rhythm as her eyes became heavy.
A loud voice shattered her daydream in to pieces smaller than the bite-sized cookies Mugi brought to the clubroom every day. Startled, she turned to the girl in front of her and yelped. Jun's face wasn't entirely visible to her thanks to how far she was leaning over the table. Her face broke into a smile at the sight of Azusa jumping back and she sat down again, failing to disturb yet another girl at the table next to her. Unlike her sister, Ui always seemed to be reliable and unshakable even at times like this when the work environment wasn't exactly the best in the world.
Jun continued playfully pestering Azusa about her daydreaming, adopting an expression of feigned disgust at the drizzle outside that was slowly turning into a monsoon. She picked up her pencil again and shot one final grin, a friendly remark, at Azusa before turning back to her work. It wasn't at all odd to expect such interruptions from Jun so she just shrugged it off and gave a the street another fleeting glance before following suit and returning to her own homework.
They had all gathered after school and decided they would finish their homework at Ui's house. Yui-senpai would be out for the rest of the day so the chances of Azusa or Ui becoming distracted and forgetting about their homework was next to non-existant. Jun, however, had been causing problem the entire afternoon; as a result, Azusa had hardly finished the first page of her homework and was stuck on the first part of the second page. Her assumption was that eventually, the disruptive girl would soon tire of horseplay and she would be allowed to finish her homework in peace.
That assumption would turn out to be very, very wrong indeed.
Yui hummed happily as she strode down the street beside her childhood friend, Manabe Nodoka. Ui had lovingly sent Yui off with her that evening after school with a gentle yet stern reminder of the things Yui needed to buy at the grocery store. They were running out of many things but most of all they needed another carton of milk. Nodoka was sent along merely as a precaution against reckless buying; Ui knew all too well the types of stores her airheaded sister would see on the way to get the milk and wanted to avoid sending her again tomorrow if she spent the money on, say, new strings for Gitah.
Nodoka simply wished she could enjoy the same carefree nature as Yui frequently did. Both of them would be soaked to the bone if the rain got any worse before they arrived at Yui's house, and Nodoka herself had yet even more walking to do afterward. Ahead of her the carefree figure did a twirl in the rain, frolicking in the increasingly wet atmosphere.
Nodoka voiced a tentative wish to hurry on that was met with disappointment and mock sadness on Yui's part. Another figure, tattered and seemingly worse for wear, was walking down the sidewalk towards the pair while staying unnoticed. The girls argued in good nature as they neared the man, whom they could have identified as homeless had they happened to glance forward. Instead, Yui kept up her act until she bumped into the man. He tried to take the milk out of her hands.
This was something Yui couldn't allowed. Lose the milk and have her sister's disappointment weight in her conciousness the rest of the night? Of course she would forget it happened by morning but this would not stand at all!
She let out a loud protest and tugged on the milk, jerking the man around to face her. He yelled something and brought up a dark grey object; Nodoka yelled back at the man but something hit Yui in the chest and knocked her on her back. Yui was surprised at how hard the man could punch... it felt like she'd been hit by a train! Instead of going after the milk, Nodoka got down next to Yui and was saying something. Why did she have to mumble? Her chest hurt something terrible; the man must have hit her pretty hard but it was impolite of Nodoka not to help her up. She wanted to berate her but she couldn't seem to breathe to do so.
Once again a noise, although much less human this time, broke Azusa's dream. As if waking up from a dream, Ui looked around before locating her phone on the table next to her homework; the light-up display on the front informed her that it was from Yui's friend, Nodoka. Ready to be told they would be home late, Ui picked up the phone with a faint smile and greeted the person at the other end.
All three girls recoiled as Nodoka screamed at her from the other end of the line. In between her words, they could all hear the rain and another sound. Ui's eyes widened and started to tremble, her stare glazing over with a horrible blankness. with a final half sobbed, half shouted command the line was suddenly cut. Nodoka had hung up without so much as a good bye.
Ui didn't put the phone down after Nodoka had hung up. She wasn't capable of movement, nor was she capable of hearing or seeing anything else. Azusa and Jun battered her with questions about the call without realizing the girl would not answer. They had not heard what she heard through the masking noise of the summer rain.
They had not heard Hirisawa Yui's ragged gasps, her feeble attempts to draw breath through the flow of crimson flooding her chest.
